Bulls' Adames plates career-high five runs

The way Triple-A Durham hitting coach Ozzie Timmons sees it, a new hero seems to emerge every night for his team. On Friday, it was Willy Adames.
The Rays' second-ranked prospect drove in a career-high five runs, going 3-for-4 with a double and a walk, as the Bulls topped Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, 10-6, at PNC Field.

Adames walked in the first inning before flying out to left field in the third. He ripped a two-run single to center in the fourth and singled home another run to left in the fifth before delivering an RBI double in the seventh. A sacrifice fly to center in the ninth helped him surpass his previous best of four RBIs, set on June 1, 2014 with Class A West Michigan in the Tigers system and again on June 9, 2016 with Double-A Montgomery.
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Timmons praised Adames' persistence. He saw seven pitches before his fourth-inning single and battled back from a 2-2 count in a nine-pitch at-bat before doubling in the seventh.

"He'll get behind and he'll lay off some tough pitches. He'll foul off some tough pitches until they make a mistake," the hitting coach said. "When they made a mistake, he cashed in on them."
MLB.com's No. 18 overall prospect has collected six hits and reached base eight times over his last two games to boost his slash line to .273/.366/.417 in 113 games.
"He's been sticking with his routine all year and things have started to come around for him," Timmons said. "He's doing a good job and he's been battling."
After compiling a .237/.345/.371 line in July, Adames focused on correcting a hitch in his swing. The adjustment has paid off, with the native of the Dominican Republic batting .339 with five extra-base hits and nine RBIs in the first 15 games of August.
"He's got a little loop in his swing and we've just been working all year to try to balance that loop out and take a little of it out," Timmons said. "Everybody has a little uptick in their swing, but his was just a little bigger than most. He's been working hard to stay on top of the ball and he stuck with his routine and it looks like it's starting to come around for him."

The key for the 21-year-old as the season winds down will be to continue to avoid putting pressure on himself. With the Bulls ranking second in the International League in runs scored, Timmons said the depth of their lineup should help in that regard.
"We have a pretty good group of guys here and we were talking the other day that we have a different hero every night," he said. "Nobody has to put the pressure on themselves to carry the team. That's been the good thing with Willy -- he hasn't tried to do that. Early on, he was trying to do a little too much to try to let people know what he's all about. But he calmed down and stuck with his routine and his plan. He's taking it one day at a time. He doesn't get too high or too low anymore. He just stays within himself and stays on that even keel, and it's been helping him a lot."
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Patrick Leonard chipped in three hits and scored twice for the Bulls, while Michael McKenry and Kean Wong drove in two runs apiece. Reliever Jeff Ames (1-1) worked around a pair of walks over 1 1/3 hitless frames to get the win.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre starter Nestor Cortes Jr. (1-3) allowed two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out five over 3 2/3 innings.
Rehabbing Yankees first baseman Greg Bird clubbed a pair of homers and racked up three RBIs for the RailRiders.